The present invention relates to refrigerator and freezer cabinet construction and is more particularly concerned with a cabinet including an improved magnetic gasket construction for preventing sweating of the cabinet door in the vicinity of the sealing gasket and provides easy assembly of the door.
A well known type of magnetic gasket designed not only to seal the space between the door and the cabinet face but also to maintain the door in a closed position by attraction of a magnetic means carried by the gasket with a magnetic metallic area on the face of the cabinet comprises a base portion including means for securing one longitudinal edge of the base portion to the door and a tubular portion containing the magnetic means. The gasket is an extruded resilient material such as rubber, polyvinylchloride or the like. The flexibility or resiliency of various portions of the gasket is controlled by varying the cross-sectional thicknesses thereof in order that each portion may perform the desired function or functions. For example, the base portion which is secured along its outer edge to the door assembly, must be sufficiently thick and rigid so that its inner free edge is normally in engagement with the door surface and maintains an insulating dead air space beneath the gasket base portion when the door is in a closed position. However, the gasket must be sufficiently flexible so that it can be folded back during assembly of the door and gasket to provide access to the fastening or anchoring means employed to secure the one edge of the gasket to the door. A typical refrigerator cabinet construction and gasket to solve this problem is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,359,053 and 4,469,383, assigned to the same assignee as the present invention.
Another problem in connection with flexible door gaskets using a magnetic means for maintaining the door in its closed position is that on the hinge side of the door when the door is being closed the magnetic means is attracted to the magnetic portion of the cabinet and in effect "reaches out" to attach itself to the magnetic portion of the cabinet just before the door is completely closed. Upon continuing closing the door there is a gasket scrubbing action which means that only the edge of the gasket portion containing the magnetic means contacts the magnetic material of the outer refrigerator case and as the door continues to be closed the magnet stays in place but the gasket becomes distorted. This distortion prevents adequate sealing characteristics of the gasket to the components of the door and outer case which are to be sealed. The inadequate sealing can cause undesirable heat transfer through the area of sealing to the outer door panel resulting in sweating on the outer surface of the door and cabinet. In addition the distortion of the gasket as a result of frequent door closings will detrimentally effect the life of the gasket.
By this invention, there is provided a refrigerator cabinet which includes a gasket configuration which overcomes the above-mentioned gasket sealing problems.